Friday, January 08, 2016

“The arts
are fundamental to our humanity. They ennoble and inspire us — fostering
creativity, goodness, and beauty. The arts help us express our values, build
bridges between cultures, and bring us together regardless of ethnicity,
religion, or age.”

– Jeff
Denson – founder and artistic director of Ridgeway Arts, Inc.

Renowned
bassist/composer/educator/community activist Jeff Denson and a small group of
colleagues have formed Ridgeway Arts, Inc. – a multi-faceted San Francisco Bay
Area-based 501(c)(3) not-for-profit corporation. Two years in the planning,
Ridgeway Arts is built upon a series of initiatives designed to enhance and
fortify the Bay Area scene, and to make a strong contribution to the national
landscape of jazz and the arts in general.

While Jeff
Denson’s vision provides an extremely significant force, the spirit of
partnership and collective effort are also major components of the
organization’s direction. Ridgeway’s imperative is built upon a four-pronged
plan of expression, education, presenting and documentation, all with a clear
focus upon revenue production leading to self-sustenance. They include:

Jeff Denson
performance and composing activities

Education/community
outreach

Ridgeway
Presents

Ridgeway
Records

DownBeat
Magazine praises Jeff Denson for his “considerable gifts as an improviser,
interpreter and sonic trailblazer..." The activities of his own ensembles
as well as those of his two cooperative groups, all take place under the
Ridgeway umbrella. They include The Jeff Denson Trio plus, a fixed trio of Jeff
on bass, pianist Dan Zemelman and drummer Alan Hall, augmented by a special
guest artist. For the past year, this guest has been the legendary alto
saxophonist Lee Konitz, with whom Jeff has had a decade-long relationship. In Summer 2015, the group released their
debut Ridgeway Records release Jeff Denson Trio plus Lee Konitz. The band is just back from a highly
successful October 2015 European tour to support the record, one of many US and
international tours.

Denson’s two
cooperative ensembles are also part of the Ridgeway family. Electreo is an
adventurous electric group, featuring Jeff on electric bass and vocals, with
Grammy-winning virtuoso bassoonist Paul Hanson, and Hall on drums. The group
has been performing regularly in the Bay Area and has been developing a strong
and loyal audience for its unique and genre-defying approach to modern music.
The San Francisco String Trio is a collaboration with another pair of
internationally renowned musicians – Grammy-winning violinist Mads Tolling and
guitarist Mimi Fox. Together they have developed The Sgt. Pepper Project to celebrate
the 50th anniversary of the release of the groundbreaking Beatles album.

All of these
ensembles will be represented at the 2016 Association of Performing Arts
Presenters (APAP) Conference in January as part of the UNITY Arts Alliance, of
which Ridgeway and Jeff are founding members.

Denson’s
composing is multi-leveled. In addition to composing for his own small
ensembles and Electreo, Jeff also composes large-scale works, and has been
working on a three-act chamber opera entitled WEBS.

The Educational/
Community Outreach component has been developed in conjunction with the
California Jazz Conservatory (CJC) under Dr. Jeff Denson’s position at the
prestigious college as Director of Outreach and full-time professor. The
program has a triple purpose of 1) exposing primary and secondary students to
the profound legacy of jazz; 2) providing opportunities for young musicians to
learn from and perform with top professionals of both local and national
renown; and 3) fortifying the Bay Area scene to make it attractive to
graduating students to remain in the area to make their professional
contributions to the jazz legacy.

Ridgeway
Presents is the organization’s curating program that will be launched in 2016
in five separate cities in the Bay Area. Presentations will feature national
artists, local musicians of varying statures, and emerging student ensembles
from the CJC and high school jazz programs. Part of the program is focused upon
allowing young talent to share the stage with professionals to restore
“learning on the bandstand” that has been such an important, but recently too
often neglected element in the development of outstanding talent throughout the
history of jazz. Final arrangements are being made in the development of the
partnerships with venues and institutions that will be involved with the
program. Ridgeway Presents will also be working nationally on exchange programs
with the curating activities of other members of the UNITY Arts Alliance.

Ridgeway
Records has been conceived with an innovative plan in a partnership mode where
the artists share revenue, team resources, marketing and distribution – all
integrated within the overall plans of Ridgeway Arts.

The first
album – the aforementioned Jeff Denson Trio plus Lee Konitz – was released in
the summer of 2015. There are currently four new projects in motion. Alan
Hall’s six-member Ratatet, featuring Denson and Hanson, along with trombonist
John Gove, vibraphonist Dillon Vado and
Greg Sankovich on keyboards – and described by Hall as “a modern-oddball-jazz
sextet” – will be releasing its debut album Arctic in March 2016. Denson takes
another angle on his Trio plus concept with a new permanent quartet that adds
Paul Hanson to the mix, and their recording will be issued later that year. The
Sgt. Pepper Project, with its fresh and innovative take on the revered album’s
compositions is slated for early 2017 to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the
original release. Other upcoming albums will include the first album by
Electreo, as well as Paul Hanson’s Homecoming, a sweeping exploration of Jewish
music for a sextet of bassoon, violin, guitar, cello, bass and drums

Denson, who
has developed a productive ongoing relationship with the famed Fantasy Studios,
serves as producer and/or executive producer on all of the label’s projects.

Management
and development assistance for all of Ridgeway’s activities is provided by an
experienced and accomplished team of associates working directly within
Ridgeway Arts, and are also supported on a national basis by the other members
of the UNITY Arts Alliance.

As extensive
as the current programs may be, groundwork is being laid for additional
projects including Ridgeway Publishing (educational books by Denson and other
extraordinary educators); and a series of podcasts about the Bay Area scene
with 27 episodes already recorded and new episodes being prepared for a
national focus. With all of these initiatives, Ridgeway’s impact upon the Bay
Area and national scenes will undoubtedly be a profound one.

As Denson
says: "Ridgeway Arts is here to lend a voice to the remarkable creativity
in our communities and to work to bring it to the people who are hungry for
it.”